Chapter 19
Nineteen
ORIEL
The alarm hits me, and I whip around to look at the others in my group. We headed to the lowest floor in Canto IV first, deciding that if we cleared our own building, it would make it easier to leave the women upstairs without worrying.
Okay, Slash decided that, but X and I told the others to listen; he’s pretty edgy right now.
We’ve been able to scan or search areas from the lobby up to two floors below ours without finding more than some spells on dorm rooms that violate school policy and more people fucking than I would have assumed.
Nothing tripped our radar, but the alert in my room is a big red flag.
Walking over to X, I lean in to murmur in his ear, “I have to go. The security on my room just flared, and I don’t know who the fuck got inside, but it can’t be good. ”
“Because KK and the ladies are snuggled up tight in her room, right?” X says with a smirk. “You think someone’s testing our shit to get to her, right?”
“I do,” I reply with a grimace. “But if we tell the big guy, he’ll go storming up like a fucking tank and we’ll lose the element of surprise. Can you keep him, the lion, and the Prince busy?”
Xerxes’ eyes flash with merriment. “Of course I can. I’ll just set off a few things here accidentally, and they’ll have to help us resolve it either with magic or diplomacy. That will keep Slash from wondering what you’re doing when I say you’re searching the bathrooms.”
Shuddering at the thought, I pat their shoulder lightly. “Thanks, man. I’d rather catch the fucker red-handed than snoop in the aftermath. Back soon.”
I wait until X heads down the hall to do their thing, and as soon as the others are looking away, I scramble to the end of the hallway for the almost-never-used stairs.
My crow is eager to find out who’s sneaking around the hoarder mess my dorm’s become since the arena mess.
I have nothing particularly useful to a thief, nor are there valuable things—at least, not to anyone but me and whoever I stole it from.
I didn’t leave any clues for them to follow back to me, so this has to be about us or KK.
The latter worries me, and stealing shit could give them focal objects to use for anything from tracking to hexes that do really bad shit.
“Of course, they could get crap that isn’t technically mine and fuck up the whole thing, but I can’t depend on that,” I murmur to myself as I take the set of stairs to get up to the top floor that my caliphate has claimed our own.
“That would be funny, but maybe dangerous, too, if it’s someone powerful.
Fuck, I hate dealing with counter-surveillance. ”
I don’t like any of the options, and I definitely don’t like that someone got through the outer security to trip the damn extra magical alert.
Jasper didn’t believe me this summer when I told him that having the university security on the outside of the rooms wasn’t enough.
It worked when he was a student and couldn’t imagine why it wouldn’t be enough for the rest of us.
But that was before KK, before all this subterfuge, and before we had shit that we desperately want to protect.
As I open the door to our floor slowly, I shift just enough to enhance my senses.
Both sides are demanding retribution for someone invading my space, so my wings spread as my horns sprout.
I don’t usually piecemeal like this—not like Slash or Jas or Zav—but everything inside of me is riled up.
I’m angry about the intrusion, but worse, I’m afraid that someone getting into my room means they could also get to Salem’s.
While KK is fairly protected by the other women at the moment, there are times she’s alone in there.
That’s what has every cell in my body ready to rip and tear the demon with the nerve to enter my hoard.
Slipping down the hall quietly, I narrow my gaze.
None of the other doors look disturbed, and I don’t sense magical residue in the hall.
There should be something to let me know who’s fucking with my shit, but alas…
not a damn thing. I don’t want to contemplate how powerful or skilled that makes the asshole rifling through my shit; it will only make my demon and bird angrier.
I don’t want that because I also need to keep my wits about me and not just end the son of a bitch.
“Breathe and count to ten, Oriel,” I say to myself as I reach my door. The urge to go check on the girls is strong; however, we promised to let them have their time. If I take care of this and scram, they might not even have to know I was up here.
I use the tip of one wing to dismantle the security on the outside of the door entirely.
We each have a fail-safe that turns them off that would be almost impossible to use because it involves parts of us that other demons cannot mimic.
That was an addition Zavida hacked into the scanners for emergencies, and it was as much as I could talk Jasper into doing to add to the Discordia-owned locks.
I’m especially grateful for it now, as I’m opening the door without whoever is in here hearing the system disengage via the usual methods.
The frown on my face deepens as I enter, noting the lights aren’t on, and there’s a rummaging sound further inside.
Nothing about this screams ‘professional’, but they’d have to be to get in here.
That is, unless it’s someone with master codes from Lucian.
If that’s it, I’m going to make whatever minion that motherfucker sent suffer before I let it loose.
And Jasper will file a formal complaint with the school, likely triggering the shithead to be fired and exiled to the Wastes.
Not that Darkstar would give a shit; he’d just find new idiots to use as his pawns.
The noise is punctuated by a soft belch, and I stop moving through my barely balanced piles of stolen shit to listen.
I can’t imagine a demon so dumb that it's burping as they rifle through the stuff they want to steal being employed by Lucian. No, this might be one of the other idiot caliphates trying to spy on us. That’s less dangerous, but still pisses me off, so they aren’t getting out of here without an ass-beating.
When I finally get to the area where the sound came from, I squint in confusion. This is where I stacked all the snacks and non-perishable shit I stole, like booze and prepackaged snacks. There’s no reason for anyone to be—
Suddenly, a hiccup and giggle echo through the room, and a sweatpants-covered ass pops into the air.
Well, well, well… I see this isn’t an enemy trying to get dirt or ammunition to use against us, but a tipsy girl looking for more hooch.
That changes everything, and though I absolutely should back out of here to leave her be, I can’t seem to stop myself from walking over to the wiggling backside. Carefully, I come up behind her and rumble a low greeting. “Someone’s been sleeping in my bed…”
Kat gasps, shooting to a standing position and whirling around with a bottle of Fae wine brandished like a club. “I’m armed!”
Arching a brow, I look at her with a chuckle as I smirk. “You don’t look armed, little shadow. Even if you were, I’m not sure you’d wield your bottle very accurately.”
Her eyes narrow on me, and I see a flash of red in them I don’t recognize. She tilts her head, lowering the bottle as she sniffs the air. “Oriel. It’s you.”
“Uh, yep. Totally me, in my room, because you broke in to steal my booze and set my alarm off, KK.” I study her for a moment, not quite sure why she seems off other than being a bit drunk. “Whose idea was that, by the way?”
She wrinkles her nose and sits the bottle on the floor before she points at me as she walks closer. “You have the… things. You don’t wear wings an’ horns normally. Why?”
Not the answer I expected, but okay.
“I thought someone bad was in here trying to get spell work items or spy on us.” I shrug and let my wings ruffle to get her attention. “The demon and the bird couldn’t decide who got to kick their ass because they were way too close to your little slumber party for comfort.”
Once she’s close enough to look directly up at me, Kat murmurs, “The girls say that’s cuz your animals and demons know something important and it makes them very volatile. They said it’s a big deal, an’ some of you are fighting it. I don’t know if I believe all of that; it’s very… permanent.”
That almost stops my heart. I knew Morgana and Rogue would talk to our girl about sex stuff, and it seemed like that would be a very smart way to let her find things out.
I did not think they’d stray into shit like fated mates and mating.
The girl looking up at me curiously isn’t tip-over drunk, but she’s not totally with it right now.
“I… uh, I mean…” I stammer as my brain tries valiantly to come up with an answer that will satisfy her, but isn’t more than I should say. “We live a long time, you know…”
Oh, fuck, that wasn’t remotely helpful.
“Duh, birdy man! That’s why I said that.” Kat grins, and the red flashes in her eyes again as her gaze roams over me, then back to my face. “Morgana also said you guys probably have a lot of piercings and fancy stuff under those towels.”
“Towels?” I repeat in confusion. Kat nods, and suddenly, I notice the energy in the air change. It gets heavier as the scent coming off of our newly revealed girl changes. “Like, in the bathroom?”
“Uh-huh. That’s where I see the most, even when I try not to look cuz it feels sneaky.
” Her lashes flutter as she looks down, and when she raises her eyes, I suck in a deep breath, trying to calm the riot now going on inside of me.
“But I do see things, and I saw things when people shifted and… I don’t know exactly what to do with how it makes me feel.
It scares me, but… I also… want things.”
Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck…
“Like what?” I croak. Obviously, I can’t go to Hell for this—I’m already here—so I guess there’s a pit warming up somewhere for me letting her chat so freely.
She’s barely spoken to us in a week, though, and my supernatural sides are so damn needy for even a drop of attention.
Even the non-supe parts of me have been feeling like something was missing, and she’s so damn open right now.
“I mean… uh. If you want to tell me, that is.”
Her hand swats my chest as she grins, and I swallow hard.
Are those… fangs?
“Don’t be silly, of course I want to tell you.
I just can’t ever find the words, and when I can, they won’t come out.
” Kat pouts, and my demon practically throws himself against the bars of his cage, making me grunt.
“I mean, you kissed me, and it was so tingly, and I liked it so much. Salem did, too, and even Slash. I have so many tasty men, you know.”
I chuckle again, raising my hand to run it over her hair carefully. The touch helps me back off the clamoring beings pushing against my control a little. “I’m aware, KK, though I didn’t know the big guy took his shot.”
“Yep! Rogue says his dick is probably huge and I’ll walk funny for a week. That sounds silly and can’t be right. What do you think?”
“Of Slash’s dick?” I snort, covering my mouth with my free hand. “Uh, I don’t think about it much, little shadow.”
“No!” She stomps her foot, her face screwing up as she grabs my shirt to yank me down closer.
“I mean, about the walking funny thing. I don’t think that’s how it works.
I mean, that wasn’t how it worked, even though it hurt a lot and I was sore.
But none of that was good, and it makes me worried that nothing is good and everyone is just lying to me. ”
“Oh, shit,” I whisper as the fury inside of me floods my being before I can stop it. The demon and the bird work together to push me aside—something that rarely happens—and my hand moves to grip her chin as I growl darkly.
Kat’s eyes flash that damn red again, and it makes the demon fucking purr inside me. “Oooh! I see your bad boys. They’re peeking out at me!”
Before she can say anything else, I’m kissing her deeply.
I doubt she knows that my tongue is forked, nor that my feathery tail is swishing around below my wings as the demon rejoices happily.
The minute her tongue touches mine, a jolt of power travels from her to me.
I feel it in every cell in my body and corner of my soul like she’s trying to crawl into me.
Her scent and mine mingle in the air, and when we break to breathe, I can’t stop myself from saying, “No one lied to you, little shadow. So many things feel good, and I want to show you, but I can’t. ”
Her irises go dark, the red spiked with black as she grasps my shirt hard. “You will show me. I demand it.”
Blinking, I look at the unusually aggressive woman with all my pieces paused in shock.
Even my demon is intrigued, but surprised at the command in her tone.
I shake my head, hoping I can clear it, but neither he nor the crow has any intention of handing the reins back to me.
In fact, the demon is very interested in her sudden switch in behavior; he might even allow it to go unchallenged.
Unfortunately, that is both a fucking terrible and wonderful take that I have absolutely no control over.